Cavendish experiment

The Cavendish experiment, performed in 1797–1798 by British scientist Henry Cavendish, was the first experiment to measure the force of gravity between masses in the laboratory[1] and the first to yield accurate values for the gravitational constant.[2][3] Because of the unit conventions then in use, the gravitational constant does not appear explicitly in Cavendish's work. Instead, the result was originally expressed as the specific gravity of the Earth,[4] or equivalently the mass of the Earth. His experiment gave the first accurate values for these geophysical constants. The experiment was devised sometime before 1783[5] by geologist John Michell,[6] who constructed a torsion balance apparatus for it. However, Michell died in 1793 without completing the work. After his death the apparatus passed to Francis John Hyde Wollaston and then to Henry Cavendish, who rebuilt the apparatus but kept close to Michell's original plan. Cavendish then carried out a series of measurements with the equipment and reported his results in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1798.[7]

Contents

The apparatus constructed by Cavendish was a torsion balance made of a six-foot (1.8 m) wooden rod suspended from a wire, with a 2-inch (51 mm) diameter 1.61-pound (0.73 kg) lead sphere attached to each end. Two 12-inch (300 mm) 348-pound (158 kg) lead balls were located near the smaller balls, about 9 inches (230 mm) away, and held in place with a separate suspension system.[8] The experiment measured the faint gravitational attraction between the small balls and the larger ones.

Vertical section drawing of Cavendish's torsion balance instrument including the building in which it was housed. The large balls were hung from a frame so they could be rotated into position next to the small balls by a pulley from outside. Figure 1 of Cavendish's paper.

The two large balls were positioned on alternate sides of the horizontal wooden arm of the balance. Their mutual attraction to the small balls caused the arm to rotate, twisting the wire supporting the arm. The arm stopped rotating when it reached an angle where the twisting force of the wire balanced the combined gravitational force of attraction between the large and small lead spheres. By measuring the angle of the rod and knowing the twisting force (torque) of the wire for a given angle, Cavendish was able to determine the force between the pairs of masses. Since the gravitational force of the Earth on the small ball could be measured directly by weighing it, the ratio of the two forces allowed the density of the earth to be calculated, using Newton's law of gravitation.

Cavendish found that the Earth's density was 7000544800000000000♠5.448±0.033 times that of water (due to a simple arithmetic error, found in 1821 by Francis Baily, the erroneous value 7000548000000000000♠5.480±0.038 appears in his paper).[9][10]

To find the wire's torsion coefficient, the torque exerted by the wire for a given angle of twist, Cavendish timed the natural oscillation period of the balance rod as it rotated slowly clockwise and counterclockwise against the twisting of the wire. The period was about 20 minutes. The torsion coefficient could be calculated from this and the mass and dimensions of the balance. Actually, the rod was never at rest; Cavendish had to measure the deflection angle of the rod while it was oscillating.[11]

Cavendish's equipment was remarkably sensitive for its time.[9] The force involved in twisting the torsion balance was very small, 6993174000000000000♠1.74×10−7 N,[12] about 1⁄50,000,000 of the weight of the small balls.[13] To prevent air currents and temperature changes from interfering with the measurements, Cavendish placed the entire apparatus in a wooden box about 2 feet (0.61 m) thick, 10 feet (3.0 m) tall, and 10 feet (3.0 m) wide, all in a closed shed on his estate. Through two holes in the walls of the shed, Cavendish used telescopes to observe the movement of the torsion balance's horizontal rod. The motion of the rod was only about 0.16 inches (4.1 mm).[14] Cavendish was able to measure this small deflection to an accuracy of better than one hundredth of an inch using vernier scales on the ends of the rod.[15] Cavendish's accuracy was not exceeded until C. V. Boys' experiment in 1895. In time, Michell's torsion balance became the dominant technique for measuring the gravitational constant (G) and most contemporary measurements still use variations of it. This is why Cavendish's experiment became the Cavendish experiment.[16]

The formulation of Newtonian gravity in terms of a gravitational constant did not become standard until long after Cavendish's time. Indeed, one of the first references to G is in 1873, 75 years after Cavendish's work.[17]

Cavendish expressed his result in terms of the density of the Earth; he referred to his experiment in correspondence as 'weighing the world'. Later authors reformulated his results in modern terms.[18][19][20]

which differs by only 1% from the currently accepted value of 6989667384000000000♠6.67384×10−11 m3 kg−1 s−2.

For this reason, historians of science have argued that Cavendish did not measure the gravitational constant.[21][22][23][24]

Physicists, however, often use units where the gravitational constant takes a different form. The Gaussian gravitational constant used in space dynamics is a defined constant and the Cavendish experiment can be considered as a measurement of this constant. In Cavendish's time, physicists used the same units for mass and weight, in effect taking g as a standard acceleration. Then, since Rearth was known, ρearth played the role of an inverse gravitational constant. The density of the Earth was hence a much sought-after quantity at the time, and there had been earlier attempts to measure it, such as the Schiehallion experiment in 1774.

For these reasons, physicists generally do credit Cavendish with the first measurement of the gravitational constant.[25][26][27][28][29]

For the definitions of terms, see the drawing below and the table at the end of this section.

The following is not the method Cavendish used, but shows how modern physicists would calculate the results from his experiment.[28][30][31] From Hooke's law, the torque on the torsion wire is proportional to the deflection angle θ of the balance. The torque is κθ where κ is the torsion coefficient of the wire. However, the torque can also be written as a product of the attractive forces between the balls and the distance to the suspension wire. Since there are two pairs of balls, each experiencing force F at a distance L/2 from the axis of the balance, the torque is LF. Equating the two formulas for torque gives the following:

^Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gravity". Encyclopædia Britannica. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 385. 'The aim [of experiments like Cavendish's] may be regarded either as the determination of the mass of the Earth,...conveniently expressed...as its "mean density", or as the determination of the "gravitation constant", G'. Cavendish's experiment is generally described today as a measurement of G.' (Clotfelter 1987 p. 210).

^Cavendish 1798, p. 99, Result table, (scale graduations = 1⁄20 in ≈ 1.3 mm) The total deflection shown in most trials was twice this since he compared the deflection with large balls on opposite sides of the balance beam.